Disability & Special Needs Ministry
August/September 2020
All are gifted, needed, and treasured!
BI-MONTHLY BIBLE VERSE
“But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
1 Samuel 16:7 (NIV)
“Welcome to the Fourteenth (14th) edition of the of Gulf States Conference (GSC) “Disability Special Needs & Possibilities Ministry Newsletter”. The format of remaining issues will focus not only on secular disability matters, but endeavor to provide Spiritual sinew to endure these turbulent times. Future editions will be published on a monthly basis.
Because the COVID-19 virus continues to ravage, I have been instructed to cover a variety of subjects of various lengths on some on how to cope with the stress and strain of self-quarantine mandates. If there is a specific topic you’d like to see addressed, please contact our office at your convenience.
“Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil; 17 Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.
Isaiah 1:16-17 (KJV)
TOPICS OF INTEREST
Wheelchair & Assistive Technology Users
Precautions for COVID-19
https://mednet-communities.net/?zphgv0by.0.
This above article is too long to post, but we will be happy to mail a hard-copy by contacting our office.
Everywhere Jesus went He saw spiritual possibilities; He saw potential candidates for the kingdom of God in the most unlikely circumstances. We call this ability “church growth eyes”. Church growth eyes are a cultivated sensitivity to see people as Jesus saw them, as winnable for the kingdom of God. This also involves “church growth ears”, which has to do with listening to the unspoken needs of those around us. It has to do with listening to their heart’s longing for something they do not have, even if they have not openly expressed it. (Lesson 3 July 11-17 / Seeing People Through Jesus’ Eyes / Wednesday, July 15, 2020)
FACEMASK USE GUIDELINES
Whether you stocked up on reusable cloth face masks from your favorite brand or DIY’d your own, your face covering is pulling double-duty as a fashion statement and a way to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus. For months now, doctors and other health officials have urged the general public to cover your noses and mouths before leaving the house, especially if you’re going to be in close proximity to other people. They’re a safe and easy way to create a barrier between your germs and other people — yet around the country, a significant number of people are refusing to do their part.
Because masks protect those around you, the decisions made by your friends and family members' impact you as much as, if not more, than they impact them. But it can be difficult to find common ground with someone who refuses to wear a mask for whatever reason. Maybe they falsely believe the coronavirus isn’t that serious, even after hundreds of thousands of people have died due to complications linked to COVID-19. Or perhaps they are taking cues from President Donald Trump and other right-wing politicians who are trying to turn face masks into a matter of political ideology, when these pieces of fabric are simply meant to keep everyone safe.
Whatever their reasoning, Julia Marcus, an epidemiologist and an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School who has written about the carnivorous for The Atlantic, believes that talking to someone with empathy is likely to be more effective in convincing them to wear a mask than shaming them for their actions might. “Big picture, I am an HIV-prevention researcher and it’s very clear in HIV prevention how shaming and the stigma that it perpetuates gets in the way of public health efforts to end the HIV epidemic,” she told Teen Vogue. “And throughout the last few months of watching the coronavirus pandemic unfold, it was clear to me the ways shaming was playing out again in this pandemic — not just in the media and the general public, but also in some informal messaging from public health experts on social media, which is a place where a lot of people are getting their information.”
At the end of last month, she created a Twitter thread about what empathetic messaging looks like. Her advice, which soon went viral, stresses coming from a place of compassion, and engaging with other people about why they don’t like wearing masks or practicing social distancing. “I’ll just say it: I don’t like wearing a mask. I find it uncomfortable,” she said. “It’s a constant reminder that I’m living in a pandemic, which I’d rather forget. And if somebody says to me, ‘Come on, this is so easy, why are you whining about this?’, then I don’t feel like I can trust that person.”
By contrast, she believes that talking about why someone finds wearing a mask difficult — whether it’s the way the loops might irritate the back of your ear, or feeling like breathing is more difficult — allows for problem solving and finding more comfortable options together.
“SPECIAL ABILITIES” NOT “DISABILITIES”
ADA Headlines
JUSTICE DEPARTMENT REACHES AGREEMENT WITH SPENCER EAST BROOKFIELD SCHOOL DISTRICT TO RESOLVE DISABILITY DISCRIMINATION COMPLAINT
07/30/2020
The Justice Department today announced that it reached an agreement with Spencer East Brookfield Regional School District in Spencer, Massachusetts to resolve its lawsuit alleging employment discrimination on the basis of disability.
The Justice Department’s complaint alleges that the School District terminated a paraprofessional with knee and shoulder impairments on the basis of her disability after 16 years of service to the School District. Further, the complaint alleges that the School District denied the employee’s reasonable accommodation request that, due to her physical limitations, she be excused from a new policy requiring paraprofessionals to be trained to physically restrain school children and be available to perform restraints.
Under the agreement, the School District will revise its policies to ensure compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), train staff on the ADA, and file periodic reports with the Department on implementation of the agreement. The School District will pay $85,699.49 in back pay and compensatory damages to its former employee.
To find out more about this complaint, agreement, or the ADA, call the Justice Department's toll-free ADA Information Line at 1-800-514-0301 or 1-800-514-0383 (TDD), or access its ADA website at ADA.gov.
JUSTICE DEPARTMENT SETTLES WITH PRIVATE SCHOOL TO ENSURE COMPLIANCE WITH THE ADA
For more information on the ADA or this settlement agreement, please visit ADA.gov or call the toll-free ADA Information Line at 800-514-0301 (TTY 800-514-0383).
CREDITS:
Laugh & Lift http://www.laughandlift.com/
Doug Batchelor – Amazing Facts
New York Times (July/August 2020 - several topics)
Published by
George Hamilton
Assistant Disability Ministry Director
Gulf States Conference of Seventh-day Adventists
H. 256-883-7751
C. 850-543-1398
Disabilities & Special Needs Ministry Goals
Email: gsc-disability@gscsda.org
Website: https://gscsda.org/disability-ministries
Location: 10633 Atlanta Highway, Montgomery, AL, USA
Phone: 3342727493